VMware ESXi and Workstation TOCTOU Race Condition Vulnerability

[ Why it matters ]Priority signals

• Exploited in the wild: on CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities list since 2025-03-04

[ Description ]Official description

VMware ESXi, and Workstation contain a TOCTOU (Time-of-Check Time-of-Use) vulnerability that leads to an out-of-bounds write. A malicious actor with local administrative privileges on a virtual machine may exploit this issue to execute code as the virtual machine's VMX process running on the host.

CISA: VMware ESXi and Workstation contain a time-of-check time-of-use (TOCTOU) race condition vulnerability that leads to an out-of-bounds write. Successful exploitation enables an attacker with local administrative privileges on a virtual machine to execute code as the virtual machine's VMX process running on the host.

[ Fixes ]Fixes and patches

CISA required action (US federal deadline 25 Mar 2025): Apply mitigations per vendor instructions, follow applicable BOD 22-01 guidance for cloud services, or discontinue use of the product if mitigations are unavailable.

No fix or interim patch is linked from our sources yet. Check the vendor references below and limit exposure of affected systems until a fix is available.

[ References ]References

• support.broadcom.com/web/ecx/support-content-notification/-/external/content/SecurityAd…Vendor Advisory
• www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalogUS Government Resource